Coaches Review The Battle…..

Lou Holtz

Notre Dame Head Coach Lou Holtz“This is probably as tough a loss as I’ve had. We made so manymistakes in this football game. We had four turnovers – two byreceivers – and we missed an extra point, which kept them in thegame. We made far too many mistakes. I don’t know why. Maybe it’sbecause we’ve practiced inside due to the blustery cold. Weweren’t very sharp. This was a great win for USC. Anytime it’s adisappointing loss for you, it’s a great victory for someoneelse. I was proud of our football team. We made too manymistakes to win. Every time we tried to put the nail in thecoffin, we couldn’t do it.”

“USC played with a lot of emotion. That kept them in theballgame. The turnovers kept encouraging them.”

I feel bad for the seniors and the players that made mistakes. Iknow how they feel. This is a great rivalry, a great series, andthis one will go down as a classic.”

“No doubt the loss of Kory Minor hurt us a lot on defense, butwe have no execuses.”

(On his last regular-season game:) “It’s like life. It’s oneyou’ll remember, one game you’ll carry with you for a long time.It’s very disappointing, but it’s still great to have the thrillof competing.”

USC Head Coach John Robinson“I always liked this team. We’ve been through far toomany overtimes. They never gave up. They played greatfootball, as best as they could. This was a great as any NotreDame-USC game I’ve been at. It’s great to have a one game winstreak.”

“Brad Otton was courageous, he’s been courageous all year. A lot of things went against him this year. He never blinked,never gave up. Sammy Knight is one of the best football playersand people I’ve ever been around. I feel the same about JohnAllred. Those men stick out in my mind as special, uniquepeople.”

“Tonight was a great night for us. This team has been in alot of games this year. The Penn State game was the only lossthat was one-sided. In five games, we lost in overtime or hadleads and let them get away.”

“Those things you never touch on (in the media) are thethings that go on in private. Young people fighting throughadversity is a special thing.”

“Notre Dame had a good defensive team. We knew we had tostay with the run. Notre Dame is an extremely well-coachedteam. Lou Holtz is one of the best coaches around.”

“There was a lot of things said about us all week. Bymid-week, we couldn’t stop the letters and faxes from people whosupported what we stand for as Trojans. The external was neverthe issue. It’s what goes on within your people. I’d like tothank publicly all the people who supported us.”

“This team is extremely young. We needed to get over thehump.”

“In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame didn’t quite have ahandle on what we were doing. We have to become a running team. That’s what I’ve always admired about a Holtz team, theirability to run the football. That’s what we need to do tobecome a championship team. I admire Lou Holtz a great deal. Neither he nor I were the issue. The real things are the teams,the schools, the games and all the things you won’t read aboutin the paper tomorrow morning. I’m happy about this. It’s oneof the great moments of my life. Much had been made about methis week but this is beyond me.”